The Paris prosecutor’s office has requested that “Mimi” Marchand be tried for extortion alongside photographer Sébastien Valiela. A Source close to the case told AFP on Tuesday, April 30, that the public prosecutor had requested this trial before the criminal court on April 19.
Reimbursement of “service”
Karine Le Marchand filed a complaint in mid-February 2020 with the police, indicating that a “Source” of her acquaintance had narrowly avoided the publication of photos of her daughter leaving police custody against payment of 3,000 euros. At the time, the host of “L’amour est dans le pré” (M6) had not mentioned the name of her Source, Michèle Marchand. The two women saw each other a few days later at a lunch where the one who also hosted “Une ambition intimate” or “Les Maternelles” handed over 1,600 euros to begin reimbursement for this “service”.
“It will be too late… it’s annoying for the little one”
According to elements of the requisitions of which the AFP was aware, the prosecution considers that “Mimi” Marchand would then have “become more pressing or even threatening by insinuation by indicating to him, while Karine Lemarchand did not make herself available and did not have not paid the entire amount mentioned (3,000 euros) during their first exchange: “It will be too late… it’s annoying for the little one””.
During interrogation, Mimi Marchand, 77, contested any form of pressure and indicated that it was Karine Le Marchand who had “insisted” that she take the money. The one who is known to have been close to the Macron and Sarkozy couples explained that she contacted Karine Le Marchand by telephone so that she could prepare a response if the affair came out in the press. But the justice system suspects her, on the contrary, of having worked to recover the photos to carry out this blackmail.
At the beginning of March, Karine Le Marchand again deplored on Instagram leaks in the celebrity press concerning her daughter. “Being 21 is not easy. Neither is being my daughter. I am sorry that my notoriety spares you nothing,” she wrote to him.
Asked by AFP, Me Caroline Toby indicated that she had made observations for the purposes of dismissing the case for her client “Mimi” Marchand.
A trial also requested for two police officers
The photos were taken by Sébastien Valiela. This paparazzo, for whom the prosecution is requesting a trial for corruption and concealment of violation of professional secrecy, is known for having taken the photos of Mazarine Pingeot with her father François Mitterrand, published in Paris Match in 1994; he also took the stolen photos of François Hollande and Julie Gayet published in January 2014 by Closer.
The prosecution is also requesting a trial for one of its supposed informants, police officer Marc M., 45, who could be tried for violation of professional secrecy. A police officer who died in 2022 was also implicated.
The Griveaux affair
Due to links between the protagonists, this section was attached to an emblematic file: the investigation opened after the broadcast by Paris Match in February 2020 of photos and a video showing the Russian Piotr Pavlenski lying face down on the ground , hands restrained by handcuffs.
Two days earlier, Piotr Pavlenski had claimed responsibility for the broadcast of videos of a sexual nature by Benjamin Griveaux, then LREM candidate for mayor of Paris, precipitating his withdrawal from the municipal battle on February 14, 2020.
Marc M. and another police officer, David O., 55, are suspected of having informed Sébastien Valiela about the upcoming arrest of Piotr Pavlenski and his partner, Alexandra de Taddeo. At one point when the police had taken a break from their surveillance, the paparazzo would have informed them.
The investigating judge will decide
If the investigating judge, who makes the final decision on a trial, follows the opinion of the prosecution, Marc M. could also be tried for forgery of public documents for these facts, because he is suspected of having falsified a trial -verbal to hide the key role of Sébastien Valiela in the episode.
However, the prosecution did not request that an aggravating circumstance be taken into account which could have led this case to the departmental criminal court. The lawyers of Ms. Le Marchand, civil party in this case, of Sébastien Valiela, Marc M. and David O. did not respond to AFP.
